(Image source: Coincheckup 2022)
Walt Disney has named blockchain provider Polygon, as one of six companies to be joining its 2022 Disney Accelerator program. As a part of the company's focus on "next generation storytelling efforts", the business development program is designed to build 'the future of immersive experiences" and help accelerate the growth of companies which specialise in technologies such as augmented reality (AR), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and artificial intelligence (AI) characters.
In its announcement, the Walt Disney Company said:
Disney will continue to work with companies... in this year’s Accelerator class to help develop new technologies and storytelling canvasses to create connected experiences across physical, digital, and virtual worlds.
As the only blockchain provider on the list, for Polygon this is a prestigious as well as significant opportunity. The Polygon network is a Layer 2 Ethereum scaling solution designed to provide an easy framework for new and existing blockchain projects to build on Ethereum without scalability issues. There are a range of other excellent layer 2 solutions including, of course, our own home-grown Immutable.
Of interest to Disney, is the opportunity for developers and enterprises to be able to build Web3 experiences and give users low-cost, high throughput transactions. Lower cost transfers is especially vital for NFT projects, as volatile gas fees and difficulty UX hurdles can otherwise dissuade users and lead to only tech savvy users being involved. Blockchain has often promised to deliver micro-transactions and layer 2 solutions help bring that in.
For more information on the other five winners (Flickplay, Inworld, Lockverse, Obsess, Red 6), two of which also involve Web3, see here.
Walter Teng, digital-asset strategy associate at Fundstrat, said that given that Disney:
hasn’t invested or built an in-house crypto solution, the accelerator marks its foray into the digital-asset space.
The accelerator program's focus on the metaverse demonstrates growing support for the digital asset space as big players like Walt Disney invest, creating a positive signal to other major rights holders of NFTs as a key new product now and in the future.